Under the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law, an employee who successfully sues to recover owed wages can get the losing employer to pay his or her attorney fees. This is important because frequently workers do not have the funds to pay an attorney to sue an employer for wages. In the case of Barufaldi v. Ocean City, Md. Chamber of Commerce, the court held that the financial ability of the employer to pay the employee's attorney's fees is not relevant to the decision of the Maryland Court to or not to award attorney fees. The Maryland court stated that the employer's financial condition is irrelevant to the Wage Payment law's "goal of enabling claimants of unpaid wage violations to obtain counsel and receive access to justice." This Maryland case should help employees since employers will not be able escape from paying an employee's attorney fees by claiming financial poverty.
